Home Swappers: Issue 5
July/August 2000

http://www.homebase-hols.com

Home Swappers Newsletter is published bi-monthly to provide information on
home exchange for current and recent members of Home Base Holidays,
enquirers and Newsletter subscribers. If you do not want to receive further
Newsletters please send us a message with 'Remove from mailing list' in the
subject line plus your name in the message:

mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com

Topics Covered:
  1. New Representatives - Malta and Canada
  2. News for Members
      (a) Very Important Request re Exchanges to Philadelphia Area
      (b) Update Listings
      (c) Second Photos
      (d) Searching by HE Number
  3. Traveller's Companion - Travel Guides & Maps
  4. Monthly Prize Draws
  5. Home Base Holidays Members on TV and Radio
  6. New Exchanger's Jitters
  7. Travel Websites and Newsletters - Focus on the United Kingdom
      (a) Britain Express
      (b) The Great Britain Travel Guide
      (c) The Homestay Providers' Network
  8. Advanced Search Features
  9. Home Swappers Archives
10. Newsletter Contributions
11. Subscriptions

1. New Representatives - Malta and Canada

Miriam Cassar (Malta) and Elizabeth McNabb (Canada) have very recently
agreed to represent Home Base Holidays in their countries. Although the
internet has made it easy for members to join on-line from anywhere in the
world many people do like to get in touch with a local contact and the
efforts of our representatives, along with our colleagues operating
established agencies in the First Home Exchange Alliance (FHEA), spreads
the word about home exchange and increases the number of exchange offers
available for all members. A former Home Base Holidays rep in France,
Valerie Leleu's agency, Troc'Adhero, has increased member numbers in 
France substantially and Troc'Adhero is now an independent FHEA member.

Miriam, whose own listing is HE4878, writes:
'Ever since we've been introduced to the home exchange concept, holidays
have never been the same. All you need is to make your home or holiday home
available for the family who is willing to host you and your family. Our
first experience was a lovely old home in Scotland. The shops, a number of
museums and public transport were all within walking distance. The children
loved the large attic filled with an assortment of toys and books, so
different from our Maltese homes. But they enjoyed most feeding the pets
running free in the large backgarden, while my husband enjoyed mixing with
the locals in a nearby pub. With home exchange, you can set your mind at
rest that someone is looking after your pets or houseplants while you are
away. Besides airfare and insurance, all it takes is careful organisation
and making your wishes known to the rest of the world.'

Prospective Maltese members may get more information by writing to Mr Mario
Cassar at 5, Magri Square, Marsa or send an email to marla@global.net.mt

Elizabeth will be introduced in more detail in the next Home Swappers but,
in the meantime, prospective Canadian members may contact her at
mcnabbf@sympatico.ca

2. News for Members

    (a) **Very Important Request**
Members who have arranged or are considering an exchange to the
Philadelphia, PA area are asked to please contact Home Base Holidays without delay: homeexchange@btinternet.com or call on 020 8886 8752.

    (b) Update Listings
To avoid members wasting time contacting you after you have made your
exchange plans please update your on-line listing. You may still be
contacted by members who have seen your listing in a directory but, if
internet members remember to keep their on-line information up-to-date, this
will help everyone find possible matches more easily. You will see on the
form (which you can access in the member area when you log on) that there is
a tick box you can use called 'Exchange Request Fulfilled' - this can be
particularly useful to use when you are going to be away for some time.
However, as you are free to use your membership for more than one exchange,
the best way to encourage contact from members for dates later this year or
next year is to change the dates (and any other information needed) on the
form. Click on Continue at the bottom of the form to save your changes. Log
on to the member area at:

http://www.homebase-hols.com/login.shtml

    (c) Second Photos
Since our switch to a new web host company, Saturn, we have been introducing
changes to the website to improve the service for members. You will have
seen that some listings now have two photos; if you would like a second
photo added to your own listing either send it to Home Base Holidays at the
address below with your name and HE number on the back or, if you can scan
it yourself, save it as a very small jpeg file (approx 250 x 150 pixels),
labelled with your HE number and send it as an attachment to an email
message.

    (d) Searching Listings by HE Number
You will see a number of HE numbers given in the Newsletter when members 
are featured. If interested in any of their exchange offers use the search box
in the Member Area to find the listing quickly. Also remember to pass on
your own HE number when contacting other members to enable them to go
directly to your listing page.

3. Traveller's Companion - Selected Travel Guides and Maps

Home Base Holidays has teamed up with The Traveller's Companion, an
independent mail-order travel bookshop run by Kevin and Yvonne Jeffrey in
Inverness, Scotland. The Jeffreys, being travellers themselves, were often
disappointed by the lack of suitable travel material available in the high
street bookshops. Their aim in setting up a travel bookshop was simple - 'to
bring together the best in travel guides, maps, atlases, video and audio'.

Based on some of the most popular destinations of home exchangers, Home 
Base Holidays can now offer a specially selected choice of travel guides and
atlases directly for members, subscribers and visitors. In addition, we will
feature a particular guide or atlas at a special discount price - check
regularly for details. There is no added postage charge for members and a £1
per order only charge for non members. Check out the publications currently
available at:

http://www.homebase-hols.com/books.shtml

4. Monthly Prize Draws

If you are receiving this Newsletter you are also entered in our monthly
prize draws. The most recent winners are:

May  2000 - London member, Adrian Perry (HE8381) - a copy of  'USA 2000 -
the Budget Travel Guide' published by Thomas Cook Publishing.

June 2000 - Jean 'T.J.' Harris (HE5079) from Sedona, Arizona is the winner
of  'Ulysses Travel Guide to Canada'.

Next draw 31 July 2000 -  the member or subscriber randomly selected will
also receive a copy of 'Ulysses Travel Guide to Canada'. This guide is also
available at the special discount rate of £13.50 during July from our travel
books page:

http://www.homebase-hols.com/books.shtml

5. Home Base Holidays Members on TV

Bill and Mary Kerr (HE3573) from Edinburgh sent in the following report
after reading details of other members' recent TV appearances in the last
issue of Home Swappers:

'We took part in "The Real Holiday Show" three years ago when we arranged a
swap with a family from Ottawa, Canada. When the film company called us to
ask if we would be willing to be filmed for a whole week (we were away for
three) we really were unsure - but took a sharp intake of breath and went
for it!!

Filming took place a few weeks before we left for Canada in our
home (at that time we lived in Hampshire but have since moved to Edinburgh)
and at Heathrow Airport before we actually started the exchange. One
cameraman came with us to Canada and spent a full week with us.
Occasionally we did feel that the camera was a bit intrusive but most of
the time we forgot it was there and, hopefully, what you saw on the
programme was the way we were.  Having said that, a week's filming was
necessarily condensed to a few minutes.  The good thing is that the film
company (for Channel 4) gave us a copy of everything and it is nice
occasionally to look back at this.

If you are approached by a film company to do this, be sure you are willing
to go through with it.  We did and are glad we did and hopefully brought
more people to home exchange.  It certainly has never put us off.  We
continue to exchange and are off to North Carolina this summer!!'

...And on Radio

Marion Blythman (HE1750), a long time member who lives in Edinburgh, took
part in a recent BBC Radio Scotland magazine programme. Time was running
short on the live programme by the time the presenter got to the home
exchange feature but many thanks to Marion for taking the time to go to the
studio to share her exchange experiences.

6. New Exchanger's Jitters

Home Swappers is aimed both at members (to provide new information) and
subscribers very new to the idea of home exchange vacations, and we welcome
input from everyone. Diana Mitchell, a recent subscriber, sent us the
following message in which she touches on the concern most people new to
home exchange will have:

'What a nice service you are providing! I congratulate you on being
enterprising and providing this forum. I put an ad somewhere saying I
might like to swap houses, and got a response many months later from an
English family, BUT am sort of cold feetish, not knowing about my art
collection, loads of nice things in my house, and while I am confident their
stuff is safe with ME....am anxious about them. Ha ha ha .....isn't that the
way? So I'll look forward to reading the experiences of others, and then
will get to know more so as to be able to make a more informed decision.
Thank you for this opportunity.' -D. Mitchell

It is a natural instinct to initially be wary of having 'strangers' in your
very personal space. Experienced exchanger Jo Piercey (HE1704) puts the 
care needed for a successful exchange very succinctly: 'Ask as many questions 
as you can when arranging an exchange. Do not leave any stone unturned.'  By
the time you agree to go ahead with an exchange you should no longer regard
your exchange partners as strangers but rather as people you have got to
know and who you trust will respect your home and property as you in turn
will respect theirs. There are of course some people,  including those who
are extremely house proud, who would never feel comfortable leaving their
home in someone else's care no matter how thorough their preparations. If
you fall into this category don't even consider home exchange - you would
not be able to relax and enjoy your holiday! If, however, you can accept
that other members will have exactly the same concerns about you as you do
about them initially and are willing to take the time and care necessary in
your preparations to minimise the very small risk involved in any
arrangement as personal as home exchange, you should have little to worry
about and many wonderful exchange possibilities to look forward to.

Home exchange is of necessity a 'do-it-yourself' holiday. The role of Home
Base Holidays and other FHEA agencies is to make listings available only, in
directories and on our website. Everyone is anxious to reach an exchange
agreement in order to get on with buying air tickets and finalising plans.
It is unfair to keep another member waiting for a long time for a decision
on an exchange offer but, if you have any doubts at all about an exchange,
don't feel pressured into making a quick decision - it's better to risk
losing the exchange opportunity than to regret your decision later on.

Directory only members are sent Guidelines on joining and internet members
are directed to the Guidelines on the website
http://www.homebase-hols.com/guidelines.shtml and are sent a printed copy on
request.

Do please read the information available and use as a reminder list when
arranging an exchange. The Guidelines are in part the collective feedback
from members from their experiences and, as such, are updated as new
information becomes available. If you have had an exchange and can share
ideas to help other members that aren't already covered, please send them to
us. No one could predict every possible eventuality but our aim is to
present as much information as possible so that members are well prepared
for making their own home exchange arrangements. You will also find further
information on the website, particularly in the links from the Info page:

http://www.homebase-hols.com/info.shtml

7. Travel Websites and Newsletters - Focus on the United Kingdom

When searching for useful travel sites to include in Home Swappers it is
usually the smaller specialist sites rather than the large, over hyped
'dot.coms' that stand out. The first two sites featured below, Britain
Express and The Great Britain Travel Guide, are for all you Anglophiles and
the third site, The Homestay Providers Network, is of interest to both
visitors coming to the UK to learn English and potential host families.

   (a) Britain Express
Founded by Canadian, David Ross: Discover England, Scotland and Wales 
with Britain Express http://www.britainexpress.com, the award-winning UK travel
and heritage guide. Explore thousands of UK attractions, and revel in
English history and culture. Welcome to Anglophile heaven.

   (b) The Great Britain Travel Guide
Founded by American-living-in-Britain, Anastasia Watkinson: The Great
Britain Travel Guide is the fun and insightful resource for travel to Great
Britain, delivering articles, tips, answers to your questions, and
information FREE by email twice a month!  Recent articles include a series
on getting around London, a fun guide to British lingo, and spotlights on
attractions and events.  For a free newsletter sample, visit the
complementary website!  To subscribe to Great Britain Travel Guide, visit
http://www.greatbritaintravelguide.com or send an email to
mailto:subscribe@greatbritaintravelguide.com

  (c) The Homestay Providers' Network (HPN)

The Homestay Providers' Network (HPN) is the world's #1 resource for
homestay and tuition programmes in the UK. It's an ideal 'one-stop shop' for
overseas guests seeking accommodation, and host families looking for work.
Visit www.hpn.org.uk for full details.

8. Advanced Search Features

At the time of writing we are testing out advanced search features which
will be added to the website within the next couple of weeks. As well as
searches by country where there are currently listings, continent, state and
town, you will be able to narrow your search by theme, disabled access, car
exchange, children welcome, pet care offered, non smoking, by destination
and by dates listings were posted. We feel the last search facility will be
particularly useful as, once you have done a major search for possible
exchanges, you can return regularly and check out the latest listings for a
number of time frames - from all listings in the last six months to only new
listings released the day of your search.

9.  Home Swappers Archives

If you miss any issues of Home Swappers you can read back editions on the
website:

http://www.homebase-hols.com/news.shtml

10. Newsletter Contributions

If you have had a home exchange holiday we would be pleased to
receive your contributions for the Newsletter - short articles about
your exchange experiences and tips for those new to the idea of
swapping homes. Members' articles include HE reference numbers
to give added publicity for their exchange offers. We also welcome questions
from all considering home exchange for the first time. Information on travel
related websites or other travel bargains which could be of interest to
readers of Home Swappers are also appreciated.
mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com

11. Subscription Information

Please invite your friends and colleagues to subscribe by forwarding
this Newsletter in full to them.

To subscribe, send us a message with your name and e-mail
address and 'Add to mailing list' in the subject line.

To unsubscribe, send a message with your name and e-mail address
and 'Remove from mailing list' in the subject line.

mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com

Copyright © 2000 Home Base Holidays

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HOME BASE HOLIDAYS, 7 Park Ave, London N13 5PG, England
tel: +44(0)20 8886 8752  fax: +44(0)20 8245 9532
mailto:homeexchange@btinternet.com
http://www.homebase-hols.com
1985-2000: 15th year providing a home exchange holiday service worldwide

Any questions on home exchange? Contact us - we will be pleased to help.